Food Image and Acceptability of Local Cuisine: Exploring Culinary Tourism in Delhi

Culinary tourism has the potential for being an essential source for destination promotion in India. One of the primay assumptions of this concept is the acceptability of local cuisine by tourists.The current paper explores this issue by trying to find the acceptability of new and local cuisine by travellers. The acceptability of local cuisine is tested via a modified Food Neophobia Scale (FNS) that scores the psychological behaviour of rejecting new or unknown food. The second part of the paper explores the ‘Food image’ of Delhi. The food image is ascertained by an empirical study on tourists using a self-administered survey. The results are analysed using descriptive statistics

Combinatorial Recruitment of CREB, C/EBPβ and c-Jun Determines Activation of Promoters upon Keratinocyte Differentiation

Background: Transcription factors CREB, C/EBPβ and Jun regulate genes involved in keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation. We questioned if specific combinations of CREB, C/EBPβ and c-Jun bound to promoters correlate with RNA polymerase II binding, mRNA transcript levels and methylation of promoters in proliferating and differentiating keratinocytes. Results: Induction of mRNA and RNA polymerase II by differentiation is highest when promoters are bound by C/EBP β alone, C/EBPβ together with c-Jun, or by CREB, C/EBPβ and c-Jun, although in this case CREB binds with low affinity. In contrast, RNA polymerase II binding and mRNA levels change the least upon differentiation when promoters are bound by CREB either alone or in combination with C/EBPβ or c-Jun. Notably, promoters bound by CREB have relatively high levels of RNA polymerase II binding irrespective of differentiation. Inhibition of C/EBPβ or c-Jun preferentially represses mRNA when gene promoters are bound by corresponding transcription factors and not CREB. Methylated promoters have relatively low CREB binding and, accordingly, those which are bound by C/EBPβ are induced by differentiation irrespective of CREB. Composite “Half and Half” consensus motifs and co localizing consensus DNA binding motifs are overrepresented in promoters bound by the combination of corresponding transcription factors. Conclusion: Correlational and functional data describes combinatorial mechanisms regulating the activation of promoters. Colocalization of C/EBPβ and c-Jun on promoters without strong CREB binding determines high probability of activation upon keratinocyte differentiation

Amelioration of salinity stress by NaCl pretreatment with reference to sugar metabolism in legumes Cajanas cajan L. and Vigna mungo L.

The effect of salinity stress and its amelioration by pretreatment with low concentration of NaCl (50mM) on growth and sugar metabolism in arhar (cv. T120) and maskalai (cv. WBU109) seedlings were studied. Salinity was found to be more toxic for root growth than shoot growth. Fresh weight and dry weight of the seedlings gradually decreased with increasing concentrations of NaCl treatment. It was demonstrated that direct germination on NaCl solution increased both reducing sugar and non-reducing sugar contents while decreased the starch contents which were to some extent decreased by pretreatment of seeds with 50mM NaCl prior to germination in salt solutions. Salinity stress also affected the activites of different sugar metabolizing enzymes. The increase in the activities of starch phosphorylase, sucrose phosphate synthase, sucrose synthase and decrease in the activities of acid invertase were observed in directly salt treated test seedlings that were altered by pretreatment with sublethal concentration of NaCl in both the cultivars arhar (cv. T120) and maskalai (cv. WBU109) seeds. Thus the application of pretreatment by sublethal concentration of NaCl in both arhar (cv. T120) and maskalai (cv. WBU109) seeds exhibited significant alteration of all the partinent parameters tested under salinity stress and the effect of pretreatment in most of the parameters were more prominent in arhar (cv. T120) with compared to maskalai (cv. WBU109) seedlings

Spray Dried Extract of Phormidium valderianum as a Promising Source of Natural Antioxidant

Microencapsulation of antioxidant-rich fraction obtained by supercritical carbon dioxide extraction (at 50 ∘ C, 500 bar with extraction time of 90 min, and flow rate of CO 2 at 2 L/min) of lyophilized biomass of Phormidium valderianum was carried out in a spray dryer using maltodextrin and gum arabic. Microencapsulation conditions that provided the best combination of phytochemical properties such as antioxidant activity, phenolic content, and reducing power with reasonable powder yield were an inlet temperature of 130 ∘ C and wall material composition as maltodextrin: gum arabic = 70 : 30. Toxicological study reported that the Anatoxin-a content of this encapsulated powder was below the limit of detection of HPLC. Storage study established that encapsulation of this antioxidant-rich algal extract resulted in eight times enhancement of half-life ( 1/2 ) values. The release profile of microencapsulated antioxidant-rich fraction from the encapsulated powder was found to follow first order anomalous transport kinetics. Therefore, this microencapsulated algal extract with minimum toxicity is a source of natural antioxidant and could have promising use as novel dietary supplement

Targeting Mitochondrial Cell Death Pathway to Overcome Drug Resistance with a Newly Developed Iron Chelate

Background: Multi drug resistance (MDR) or cross-resistance to multiple classes of chemotherapeutic agents is a major obstacle to successful application of chemotherapy and a basic problem in cancer biology. The multidrug resistance gene, MDR1, and its gene product P-glycoprotein (P-gp) are an important determinant of MDR. Therefore, there is an urgent need for development of novel compounds that are not substrates of P-glycoprotein and are effective against drug-resistant cancer. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this present study, we have synthesized a novel, redox active Fe (II) complex (chelate), iron N- (2-hydroxy acetophenone) glycinate (FeNG). The structure of the complex has been determined by spectroscopic means. To evaluate the cytotoxic effect of FeNG we used doxorubicin resistant and/or sensitive T lymphoblastic leukemia cells and show that FeNG kills both the cell types irrespective of their MDR phenotype. Moreover, FeNG induces apoptosis in doxorubicin resistance T lymphoblastic leukemia cell through mitochondrial pathway via generation reactive oxygen species (ROS). This is substantiated by the fact that the antioxidant N-acetyle-cysteine (NAC) could completely block ROS generation and, subsequently, abrogated FeNG induced apoptosis. Therefore, FeNG induces the doxorubicin resistant T lymphoblastic leukemia cells to undergo apoptosis and thus overcome MDR. Conclusion/Significance: Our study provides evidence that FeNG, a redox active metal chelate may be a promising ne

Cell type-specific epigenetic links to schizophrenia risk in the brain

Background The importance of cell type-specific epigenetic variation of non-coding regions in neuropsychiatric disorders is increasingly appreciated, yet data from disease brains are conspicuously lacking. We generate cell type-specific whole-genome methylomes (N = 95) and transcriptomes (N = 89) from neurons and oligodendrocytes obtained from brain tissue of patients with schizophrenia and matched controls. Results The methylomes of the two cell types are highly distinct, with the majority of differential DNA methylation occurring in non-coding regions. DNA methylation differences between cases and controls are subtle compared to cell type differences, yet robust against permuted data and validated in targeted deep-sequencing analyses. Differential DNA methylation between control and schizophrenia tends to occur in cell type differentially methylated sites, highlighting the significance of cell type-specific epigenetic dysregulation in a complex neuropsychiatric disorder. Conclusions Our results provide novel and comprehensive methylome and transcriptome data from distinct cell populations within patient-derived brain tissues. This data clearly demonstrate that cell type epigenetic-differentiated sites are preferentially targeted by disease-associated epigenetic dysregulation. We further show reduced cell type epigenetic distinction in schizophrenia.GK is a Jon Heighten Scholar in Autism Research at UT Southwestern. This work was supported by the Uehara Memorial Foundation to NU; JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists (18 K14814) to NU; Scientific Research (C) (18K06977) to KT; Takeda Science Foundation to NU; the JSPS Program for Advancing Strategic International Networks to Accelerate the Circulation of Talented Researchers (S2603) to SB, NU, KT, and GK; the James S. McDonnell Foundation 21st Century Science Initiative in Understanding Human Cognition – Scholar Award to GK; National Science Foundation (SBE-131719) to SVY; the National Chimpanzee Brain Resource, NIH R24NS092988, the NIH National Center for Research Resources P51RR165 (superseded by the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs/OD P51OD11132) to TMP; and the NIMH (MH103517) to TMP, GK, and SVY. Human tissue samples were obtained from the NIH NeuroBioBank (The Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, funded through HHSN-271-2013-00030C; the Human Brain and Spinal Fluid Mendizabal et al. Genome Biology (2019) 20:135 Page 18 of 21 Resource Center, VA West Los Angeles Healthcare Center; and the University of Miami Brain Endowment Bank) and the UT Psychiatry Psychosis Research Program (Dallas Brain Collection)

A Novel Copper Chelate Modulates Tumor Associated Macrophages to Promote Anti-Tumor Response of T Cells

At the early stages of carcinogenesis, the induction of tumor specific T cell mediated immunity seems to block the tumor growth and give protective anti-tumor immune response. However, tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) might play an immunosuppressive role and subvert this anti tumor immunity leading to tumor progression and metastasis.The Cu (II) complex, (chelate), copper N-(2-hydroxy acetophenone) glycinate (CuNG), synthesized by us, has previously been shown to have a potential usefulness in immunotherapy of multiple drug resistant cancers. The current study demonstrates that CuNG treatment of TAMs modulates their status from immunosuppressive to proimmunogenic nature. Interestingly, these activated TAMs produced high levels of IL-12 along with low levels of IL-10 that not only allowed strong Th1 response marked by generation of high levels of IFN-gamma but also reduced activation induced T cell death. Similarly, CuNG treatment of peripheral blood monocytes from chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy refractory cancer patients also modulated their cytokine status. Most intriguingly, CuNG treated TAMs could influence reprogramming of TGF-beta producing CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells toward IFN-gamma producing T cells.Our results show the potential usefulness of CuNG in immunotherapy of drug-resistant cancers through reprogramming of TAMs that in turn reprogram the T cells and reeducate the T helper function to elicit proper anti-tumorogenic Th1 response leading to effective reduction in tumor growth

Novel Role of Phosphorylation-Dependent Interaction between FtsZ and FipA in Mycobacterial Cell Division

The bacterial divisome is a multiprotein complex. Specific protein-protein interactions specify whether cell division occurs optimally, or whether division is arrested. Little is known about these protein-protein interactions and their regulation in mycobacteria. We have investigated the interrelationship between the products of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis gene cluster Rv0014c-Rv0019c, namely PknA (encoded by Rv0014c) and FtsZ-interacting protein A, FipA (encoded by Rv0019c) and the products of the division cell wall (dcw) cluster, namely FtsZ and FtsQ. M. smegmatis strains depleted in components of the two gene clusters have been complemented with orthologs of the respective genes of M. tuberculosis. Here we identify FipA as an interacting partner of FtsZ and FtsQ and establish that PknA-dependent phosphorylation of FipA on T77 and FtsZ on T343 is required for cell division under oxidative stress. A fipA knockout strain of M. smegmatis is less capable of withstanding oxidative stress than the wild type and showed elongation of cells due to a defect in septum formation. Localization of FtsQ, FtsZ and FipA at mid-cell was also compromised. Growth and survival defects under oxidative stress could be functionally complemented by fipA of M. tuberculosis but not its T77A mutant. Merodiploid strains of M. smegmatis expressing the FtsZ(T343A) showed inhibition of FtsZ-FipA interaction and Z ring formation under oxidative stress. Knockdown of FipA led to elongation of M. tuberculosis cells grown in macrophages and reduced intramacrophage growth. These data reveal a novel role of phosphorylation-dependent protein-protein interactions involving FipA, in the sustenance of mycobacterial cell division under oxidative stress

NaCl pretreatment alleviates salt stress by enhancement of antioxidant defense system and osmolyte accumulation in mungbean (<i style="">Vigna radiata</i> L. Wilczek)

593-600Enhancement of salt (NaCl) tolerance by pretreatment with sublethal dose (50 mM) of NaCl was investigated in V. radiata seedlings. NaCl stress caused drastic effects on roots compared to shoots. Accompanying reductions in length, number of root hairs and branches, roots became stout, brittle and brown in color. Salt stress caused gradual reduction in chlorophyll, carotenoid pigment contents and chlorophyll fluorescence intensity also. Superoxide dismutase and catechol peroxidase activities increased under stress in both roots and leaves. But catalase activity showed an increase in roots and decrease in leaves. In these seedlings, the oxidative stress has been observed under salinity stress and the level of proline, H2O2 and malondialdehyde content were increased. But pretreatment with sublethal dose of NaCl was able to overcome the adverse effects of stress imposed by NaCl to variable extents by increasing growth and photosynthetic pigments of the seedlings, modifying the activities of antioxidant enzymes, reducing malondialdehyde and H2O2 content and increasing accumulation of osmolytes like proline. Thus, mungbean plants can acclimate to lethal level of salinity by pretreatment with sublethal level of NaCl, improving their health and production under saline condition

Myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) can induce the generation of Th17 response from naïve CD4+ T cells

IL-17 producing CD4+ T cells (Th17) are identified as a subset of proinflammatory T cells present at the tumor site of various murine and human cancer cases and plays a crucial role in shaping the neoplastic process through fostering tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. However, the development of Th17 response in the tumor microenvironment has not yet been fully elucidated. Herein, we make an attempt to disclose the involvement of tumor infiltrating antigen presenting cells (APCs), especially tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) and myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) to polarize naïve CD4+ T cells toward IL-17+ T cells. We have found that MDSCs either isolated from the tumor site or generated in vitro are superior over TAMs to induce IL-17 production by naïve CD4+ T cells. Furthermore, we have shown that MDSCs mediated induction of IL-17+ T cell response is independent of MDSCs-T cell contact but crucially depends on the cytokines secreted by MDSCs. Our study will help to develop potential therapeutic strategies by harnessing the ability of MDSCs to induce IL-17 production by CD4+ T cells and thus restrict the generation of inflammatory Th17 population at the disease site